Robin Edgar
15 Lafleur, apt. 11
Verdun, Quebec
Canada, H4G 3C3 Sunday, November 9, 1997
Dear Fellow Member of the Unitarian Church of Montreal,
Today marks the second anniversary of Rev. Ray Drennan's reprehensible personal attack on me and my religious beliefs. This deplorable verbal assault, during which he repeatedly mocked and ridiculed my religious beliefs by labeling them as "silliness and fantasy" etc., and sought to deny and dismiss my claim of a profound and significant revelatory mystical experience by labeling it as "your psychotic experience", took place in my apartment on Thursday, November 9, 1995. During this meeting Rev. Drennan also falsely, and I have good reason to believe maliciously, labeled my religious activities, such as Creation Day, which were inspired by my revelatory experience, as "your cult”. When I immediately challenged this extremely derogatory, obviously defamatory, and potentially very damaging allegation, Rev. Drennan had the gall to reply that he meant "cult in the sense of "a manipulative and secretive religious group".
The foregoing are only the most serious of a variety of demeaning statements and damaging allegations that Rev. Ray Drennan made about me. A much more detailed description of his reprehensible behaviour towards me is available in my formal letter of grievance regarding Rev. Drennan's clearly unprofessional and unethical conduct. This letter, dated February 14, 1996, was submitted to the Board of this church, and the presidents of both the C.U.C. and U.U.A.
For me to say that our religious community as a whole has not responded to my legitimate and very serious grievances in a manner that is in clear conformity with the purported principles and purposes of the Unitarian Universalist religious community would be a considerable understatement. The remarkably negligent and irresponsible manner in which my serious grievances have been responded to by our religious community as a whole is well documented. The written responses of the Board of the Unitarian Church of Montreal, officials of the Canadian Unitarian Council and the Unitarian Universalist Association, as well as the Ministerial Fellowship Committee, to my various letters airing my, grievances demonstrate a clear and consistent unwillingness to acknowledge the clearly unprofessional and unethical nature of Rev. Drennan's reprehensible conduct. Indeed, the response of our religious community as a whole to my legitimate grievances clearly demonstrates the inherent truth of the wellknown aphorism that, "There are none so blind as those who will not see."
On Monday November 3, 1 submitted copies of almost all of the letters that I have sent or received as a result of my grievances to the ministers conducting Rev. Drennan's Peer Review. When I asked Rev. Brian Kopke of the Ottawa Unitarian Congregation who Rev. Drennan was accountable to for his misconduct he affirmed that it was the congregation of this church to whom Rev. Drennan must answer for his misconduct. This is consistent with similar statements made by officials of both the C.U.C. and the U.U.A. It is therefore clearly up to the congregation of the Unitarian Church of Montreal as a whole to respond in a responsible manner to my legitimate and serious grievances regarding Rev. Drennan's reprehensible conduct towards me.
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This congregation has so far responded to my grievances in a manner that is characterized by a remarkably high degree of callous indifference and willful ignorance. As far as I am concerned it has thoroughly compromised both the letter and the spirit of many of our principles and purposes; indeed, it would appear to have completely abandoned some of these principles in several instances. The Board of this church did nothing to implement responsible conflict resolution procedures when I first aired my grievances to them in February of 1996 and the Board later informed me in writing that it considers this matter to be closed. This is in spite of having done virtually nothing to responsibly address my grievances. I formally appealed to our congregation as a whole to responsibly intervene in this conflict on two occasions (April 21, 1996 and November 20, 1996) and on both of these occasions my pleas were effectively ignored.
The enclosed letter to the congregation dated September 27, 1997 gives my clear and official response to Rev. Drennan's condescending and considerably less than honest "apology" for the "distress" that his demeaning and damaging words have caused me. I was delayed in distributing this response to the congregation as a result of warnings that I would be hauled before that dreaded "euphemism" known as the "Disruptive Behaviour Commiftee" should I distribute any more letters airing my grievances to my fellow members of our congregation.
The Board received a modified version of that letter early in October but did not respond to it. John lnder made a final effort to persuade Rev. Drennan to enter into mediated dialogue with me but to no avail. Last Tuesday, November 4, John Inder informed me that Rev. Drennan not only refused to enter into mediated dialogue with me but that he had also indicated that he would neither retract nor modify any of the derogatory statements or damaging allegations that he has made about me and my beliefs. Rev. Drennan confirmed this in a telephone conversation with me the next day.
Needless to say Rev. Ray Drennan's obstinate and arrogant refusal to retract the statements that he has made about me is completely unacceptable to me and I feel obliged to continue to take steps to seek a just and equitable response to my serious grievances. I expect my fellow Unitarian Universalists in general, and our congregation in particular, to formally acknowledge that Rev. Drennan's reprehensible conduct towards me is unprofessional, unethical, and in clear violation of the integrity of numerous Unitarian Universalist principles and purposes. I expect our religious community to formally condemn Rev. Drennan's conduct, demand that he retract the derogatory statements and damaging allegations that he made about me, and subject him to disciplinary action that is commensurate with the seriousness of his offense.
In the weeks ahead I will be publicly protesting Rev. Drennan's reprehensible conduct and the failure of our religious community as a whole to responsibly address my legitimate grievances. I will not be dissuaded by threats of expulsion from our church; indeed, I will persevere in my public protests until my very serious grievances are responsibly dealt with by our religious community.
Sincerely,
Robin Edgar
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